The Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh has opened six months of exclusive negotiations with New York firms JK Equities and Manor Park Ventures for a proposed housing assemblage in the Middle Hill. The October 8 board authorization covers 90 publicly owned parcels totaling 5.28 acres around Herron Avenue, Horton, Wandless and Breen streets. It gives the development team time to negotiate a potential purchase; it is not a construction approval.
A phased plan with 335 apartments in its first two stages
The URA’s director’s report and resolution describe a four-phase concept. The first phase would be a 195-unit market-rate apartment building with ground-floor commercial space. Its proposed mix is 145 three-bedroom, 20 two-bedroom and 30 one-bedroom homes.
Phase two would add two six-story apartment buildings, one with 60 units and another with 80. Both would also have commercial space at street level. That brings the first two phases to 335 proposed apartments. The URA report estimates their combined development cost at about $170 million and says the developers expect to finance it privately. The document does not provide a construction start date or a final schedule.
The report says the full assemblage is intended to proceed in four phases, while the October board item covered only phases one and two. A broader site plan shown at the meeting included later housing concepts, but those later phases were not part of the board’s exclusive-negotiation authorization. The current public record therefore supports the initial 335-unit proposal more firmly than any total buildout estimate.
Why the site could matter to the Hill District
The proposed buildings would place homes and commercial space along a group of long-publicly owned parcels near Herron Avenue, within reach of both Oakland and Downtown. At the URA meeting, City Council President R. Daniel Lavelle connected the project to student housing pressure: he said some Oakland students are moving into Hill District houses as they look for places to live. The public board recording lets residents hear that discussion alongside the authorization itself.
A purpose-built apartment proposal could add housing supply and street-level activity, but the first two phases are described as market-rate. The board’s action does not set rents, confirm tenants or guarantee that every proposed unit will be built. Those questions depend on negotiations, financing and later approvals.
What happens next
The six-month window is the immediate milestone. During it, the URA and development team can work through terms for the publicly owned land and refine what is feasible. The agency’s board resolution authorizes negotiations with JK Equities and Manor Park Ventures, or a related entity; it does not itself convey the parcels.
The proposal’s scale is notable for the Middle Hill, but its next steps are concrete and incremental: negotiate a land agreement, settle project financing and design, and return to the public approval process as needed. If the first phase advances, its unusually large share of three-bedroom apartments would give the city another major rental project with a family-sized unit mix. For now, the URA vote begins a negotiation period and keeps the plan moving toward a decision on whether those homes can be delivered.